Indian Summer Sunshine and wall to wall Bottlenose....

A fun, warm and very sunny few hours at sea this morning on a wildflife watching charter......The birding was a bit 'light' but the Bottlenose were out en masse.....

We picked up a lone animal alongside the Mwnt......two further pairs as we headed alongside the coast towards Aberporth.....a couple more inside the bay to the South of the RAE headland. Whilst sat drifting watching these animals, two larger pods arrived one group of 6 the other 5 animals including two mothers with calves...... One of the calves was very pale in colour and briefly put on an acrobatic display. Cliff has questioned whether the pale calf could be leucistic.....I need to get some more /better images!! I have attached a couple of the better (still not good) shots.....

And in the middle!

Tuesday 27th September
Chris and I went to Mwnt at 12pm and we saw 8 Bottlenose Dolphins with mothers and calves swimming together but could be more in the bay itself and then later on I saw an extra 2 more Bottlenose Dolphins when we got up on the headland and they were still there when we left them up for an hour.And then we saw lots of display with lots of splashing activity they were doing breaching and long dives right in front of us.The sea conditions was quite calm and not a ripple
from Stevo Lucas

Its all happening up North!

F.A.O. Cliff Benson,
Cliff,
I have recently taken over as public relations officer for the National Coastwatch Institution station at Porth Dinllaen, Gwynedd. One of my new jobs is to report dolphin and porpoise sightings to the appropriate monitoring groups.
So, starting from weekend 10/11 September 2011:
Bottlenose Dolphin (20+) passing Trywn Porth Dinllaen about 1km offshore heading SW - 11.15am 15.09.11
Risso's Dolphin (2 adults) feeding 50m to north of Trwyn Porth Dinllaen, departed to SW - 10.30am 25.09.11
Bottlenose Dolphin (6+) 1km NW of Trwyn Porth Dinllaen, possibly hunting as a group with a lot of breaching - 1.00pm 25.09.11
Sunday was a good day at Porth Dinllaen! I observed the Risso's myself from close range and I am 100% sure of the species ID.
I'll send future sighting information at 2 / 3 week intervals.
Kind regards,
Martin Moore.NCI, Porth Dinllaen

Ramsey Sounds exciting:report from Malcom Barradell

Image MB.

Hi Cliff,

some lively porpoise in the sound today several adults and calfs...

Some big tides at the moment may be pushing animals together or concentrating fish ?

Image MB

What a gas! from somewhere at sea .

I saw a few  Common Dolphins today it was 930 (23^rd Sept) , 10 miles SW of St Ann’s head, 11 animals altogether,ships name is Mekaines.

Just got this via Facebook, Rye is on one of the massive LNG ships the "Mekaines" which offloads at South Hook in the Milford Haven....

Strumble Grampus...Ramsay Porps...

I met up at Strumble yesterday with Adrian Rogers  who had seen a single Risso's before I got there at around 08.30 It was seen briefly to the SW through his telescope about a mile out.
Lots of gannets and plenty of porpoises but dofficult to count in the roughish tiderace.
Alison Ross rang me to say she had been on Ramsey with Greg and Lisa  studying the Porpoises in the sound as part of an ongoing project. Apparently plenty of porpoises there including a mother with a small calf.

Right Whale is right whale for Wales!

The sighting of a rare southern right whale off New Plymouth's coast yesterday is being touted as a good omen for the Wales rugby team.


Welsh tourists Dave Robinson and Aled Mainwaring were out with Dave Chadfield of Chaddy's Charters, near Barrett Reef, about 12.15pm yesterday when the whale and its calf appeared from the deep, right in front of the boat.
Mr Robinson, who is in Taranaki visiting his daughter Jane Moffitt ahead of the match, described it as a fantastic sight.
"They are quite rare. Here we were going out for a gentle ride and we come across one of the giants of the sea," he said. "We're seeing whales and we're from Wales."
Mr Mainwaring said it was a real bonus to see the whale, which was estimated to be about 18m long.
"It was brilliant, we were out looking for seals. It just goes to show what Taranaki has to offer," he said.
The men agreed spotting the whale was a sign of good things to come from the Welsh rugby team. "It's definitely a good omen for Monday night's game," Mr Mainwaring said. 
And he was right Wales got off to a cracking start with a penalty in the first five minutes and three trys in the first twenty...they lost the plot horribly in the following twenty minutes but with Andy Powell on the field in the second half, Wales were back on track for a tryfest ...Wales 81 Namibia 7....

Amroth Porpoise

From Colin Russell - 18/09/2011, Harbour Porpoise, 2 adult, 2 calf, SN160064, inshore between Amroth and Wiseman’s Bridge.

Ouch!

Hi Cliff, I was about to mail you yesterday but checked the blog first,
I was so gutted about the Risso..........anyway I got over it. Just to say Porpoise were showing very well yesterday from my vantage point at Penmaenmelyn. Yes I was there and apparently missed a Risso that moved North to South against the tide down the Sound. Reported by the skipper of the Gower Ranger and apprently seen by 40 CCW bods aboard......or are they just winding me up?????
That is my fourth Risso miss, they get closer but????
cheers
Malcolm

Ramsey Sound

A single Risso's dolphin in Ramsey Sound this afternoon

Strumble

From Stevo - Chris and I went to Strumble Head at 1:55pm and

We saw 5 Harbour Porpoises but could be more in the ebbing tide.

The time of the sighting was roughly 3pm.

The sea conditions were choppy with a stiff south westerly wind force 5

Nice one sailor!

Sunday 18th Sept'
Hi Cliff,

Don't know if you are interested! I just saw a pod of Dolphins playing near the ship! we are about 20-25 Nm off St Anns head(I asked Jason for more info and recieved this, I am guessing they were Common Dolphins)
Jason wrote: "Hi cliff. It was the Umm Slal. It was about mid afternoon yesterday. I think it was about 5-7 dolphins! They looked pretty happy, jumping and playing within about 10-20 metres from the ship. They hung around for about 30 minutes or so, we then altered course and they disappeared! Happy to help mate.

Wales in Wales just tops 50,000 visits!

Fin Whale Blows off the Pembrokeshire Coast, August 2011. (Rich Crossen)

When Rich Crossen , (originator of the fantastically successful Pembrokeshire Birds Blogspot)  first suggested we start a cetacean blog to raise awareness of our incredibly rich marine megafauna (big sea creatures!) I wondered just how many people would be interested. I dreamt up the slightly cheezy name "Whales in Wales" which at the time seemed a bit ambitious as hardly anyone believed or knew there were ever whales in Welsh waters .  
Our first posting was in February 2009 and since then posts have kept coming in on a weekly, sometimes daily basis from many contributors, over 580 posts from all over the principality! 
Not only that but the sightings are year round giving a marvellous insight into what is actually happening around the Welsh Coast in terms of  marine animals sightings. These have  included : Whales (Minke, Fin and recently Humpback), Dolphins (Common Risso's and Bottlenose) , Porpoises, Sharks (Basking, Blue and Porbeagle), Seals, Sunfish and even a couple of incredibly rare Leatherback Turtles.

So much of our coast and seas are underwatched that such records can never be considered comprehensive.We can also see by the way the amount of sightings increase during those rare but profitable periods of calm conditions that theres probably a lot more going on than we are ever likely to be able to record. None the less these sightings have significance, forming a valuable perspective on the seasonality, presence and to some degree abundance of these creatures in Welsh Waters.

People often ask me if there are more sightings than there used to be? but before Sea Trust started their monthly ferry surveys back in 2004 there were very few year round studies to compare them with  certainly nothing as comprehensive as ours. (although some single observer sightings over sevceral years kindly donated by Ian Hotchin from his time working on Irish Ferries are a useful resource)

Since the blog began it appears that Common Dolphins have been recorded right through the winter months and Rosso's are much more common than we ever would have believed with Risso's having been recorded on at least every second crossing on average from June to November with several sightings being quite normal on many surveys. This year in the months of June and July we had twenty one Minke Whale sightings wheras we had only thirty three for the whole of the previous seven years. Bottlenose Dolphins have been commonly reported from Fishguard right up to The Lleyn and Anglesey but are hardly ever seen from the Stena Europe between Fishguard to Rosslare.

The reasons behind  these anomalies and discoveries are not particularly obvious but with more and more sightings and observations we can hopefully begin to form the right kind of questions that might begin to lead to some sensible answers!

Leatherback Turtle and Risso's from Adrian Rogers!

Friday night Saturday Morning...
I had just gone home...
Good Evening Cliff ,

Did end up getting a few birds at Strumble earlier  ( an Ad Long Tailed , yippeeee! ) , but the 2 or posssibly 3 Risso's that went through beyond the tide race at exactly 16.00 started off my enjoyable hour & a half.
and then...Although we had a good morning with seabirds this morning , they were eclipsed at 12.30 by a HUGE LEATHERBACK TURTLE just beyond the first buoy so at a distance of no more than 200 yards. It was picked up by two visiting birders , on their first visit i think ( i bet they'll come back ! ) & myself Richard Stonier & John Faithfull from Sussex all got views before it sunk away .
Cheers
Adrian
Recent press statements by the Marine Conservation Society in which Welsh waters were described as "Turtle Heaven" and our seas  full of jellyfish are an exaggeration, in fact most observers who spend a lot of time looking at our sea's including myself and Adrian think jellyfish numbers have decreased in recent years in Pembrokeshire waters. As such this is a pretty significant sighting.
Between us and the other regular Strumblers who have amassed tens of thousands of hours watching from this prolific headland (in terms of marine megafauna sightings) over the past thirty odd years, I can only recall five sightings of Leatherbacks. I have only ever seen one live one and the long dead remains of two others washed ashore. 
With something like twenty thousand hours or so observing the southern Irish/Celtic Sea and Bristol Channel from land on off various boats /ships, it would be my considered opinion that they are extremely rare. Well done Strumblers!

Sea Trust Celtic Wildcat Survey, Thursday 15th Sept...

What with the tail ends of a couple of hurricanes and one of the biggest seas I have experienced off Strumble last Monday, the chances of getting out yesterday seemed slim. Against the odds and much to my relief and that of boat trip organiser Rich Crossen, my hunch that it would be OK out there paid off and we had a fantastic day of Birds and Dolphins on a relatively calm sea beneath sunny skies.
Our 92 mile Oddysey around Grassholm and the Smalls produced great birds (includingSabines Gull, Bonxie, Stormies etc).
Grassholm still had plenty of Gannets with plenty of Gugas still wing flapping, A Trawler had loads of Fulmars and gulls but also a handfull of Stormies which flitted around the boat giving superb views.
A single whale blow had us all scanning for its owner who sadly failed to materialise and we had a long wait untill we connected with any Dolphins. We were almost at the point of thinking they were a lost cause when Simon West (who had travelled from North London to be with us) let out a yell and soon a pod was swinging in to bowride. From then on we had them most of the way back in to the Haven, probably 200+ . although we recorded a more conservative 150! A lost migrating reed warbler saught refuge and we manged to catch it and bag it up before releasing it as we came in to Neyland. It flew off into a bush, after a moments contemplation sitting on my fingers. It was certainly the Reed Warblers lucky day and great day thoroughly enjoyed by all of us, thanks Nick! For more pics click here

From Phil Lees...

Enquiry Hi Cliff
At Pen Pedol Tuesday and Thursday - saw maximum of 3 porps - mum and calf together not sure about the other one.
Hwyl, Phil

From Rod Penrose...

Apologies if you’ve already had these.

Photos sent by Jan in Cornwall. Bnd monitored in the harbour and around St Michaels Mount last week.


I think you would know if you’ve seen this one!
Regards


Rod.
Rod Penrose, Strandings Co-ordinator (Wales)

Really is a pretty recognisable fin, sadly looks like a prop hit it? Lots of Porpoises at Strumble still but difficult to count in the mad sea conditions. Dying down now lets hope its calmed down for tommorows wildcat trip!Odd sunfish also showing as well had quite abig one on Sunday evening.

From Mark Hambley...

Hi Cliff,
Just wanted to write to say “thank you” for the Dolphinothon last week.
We all enjoyed it. Your patience in getting the girls familiar with the telescopes was appreciated and the sense of patient watching which started to be instilled during the trip certainly paid off at Mwnt on Friday where, after an afternoon on the beach, we spent some time at the top of the cliffs shortly after 5pm watching two or three bottlenose dolphins backwards and forwards across the mouth of the bay. Also a seal. They wanted to wait around to see if anything else showed up.
Seeing the pictures on the blog highlighted another reason why I really should get round to buying a digital SLR!
Hope that we can join you again in the future and will certainly keep an eye on blog from time to time over the coming months.


Best wishes and keep up the good work.


Mark Hambly
Always rewarding and fun to get youngsters started Mark,  I think Jess got on well with the girls as well and was certainly on the ball, allthingsgood, cliff

Porpoises popping up all over!

Hi Cliff,



The rough weather has quietened things down in the Sound,


however happy to find today that there are still plenty of porpoise about.


Lots of walkers today, many enjoying porpoise doing their thing between the copper mines and the bitches.


A little added bonus today was a Sunfish headed down the Sound, plenty of seals and pups around too,


and Gnnets and young Auks and and.. what a place, the light there today was amazing at times, and the backdrop of Ramsey Island now in its purple heather phase and a good sea running too,


love it..


cheers


Malcolm
Nice one Malcolm, apparently the Strumble porpoises are there in big numbers 100+ allthingsgood, walrus.

Malcolm also sentr these photo's. The top one looks like a female with a well grown calf to me going on general colouring head and fin shape....

W.O.W. (Wildlife Observer Wales) courses

I would like to add a comment to the previous reviewers report on the benefits of attending the 'Wildlife Observer Wales' courses which were developed and are run jointly with Cliff Benson of 'Sea Trust' and the Coastal Zone & Marine Environment Studies Department of the Pembrokeshire college in Haverfordwest. The courses are accredited as OCN (Outside College Network) level 3 modules. For the past 3 days I have been on the W.O.W. 'Seals' course at the college which was the first of it's kind and I can say without reservation that it was excellent. Our lecturers from the college were Steve Morris and Powell Strong both of whom are recognised authorities on the Atlantic grey seal especially in Welsh waters so as you would expect our expert tuition was second to none. This year I have attended three of the W.O.W. courses commencing with the one on 'Seabirds' followed by the one on 'Cetaceans' and finally the 'Seals' course and I have enjoyed every one of them. Each course has not only given me an introduction to the I.D. of each particular group of animals and birds covered but also a basic insight into their biology too. Each course includes in-depth and detailed instruction on how to conduct scientific surveys on their populations from the perspective of both land based and boat surveys. The courses consist of a mixture of classroom work with subsequent written tests followed by a good deal of fieldwork. The fieldwork I mention is carried out in some of the prime wildlife watching locations in Pembrokeshire and so mix that with the great company of people from all walks of life but with a mutual interest and you have a recipe for a good course as each one I attended turned out to be. Anyone residing in Wales, or indeed anywhere in the UK come to that, with an interest in the marine environment and the animals which inhabit it should attend one if not all of the said courses and in doing so it will give you a better understanding of the natural World around us and perhaps persuade you to look at the environment in a more scientific (but not to scientific!) way without detracting from the aesthetic pleasure of watching wildlife. Please don't be scared off by the mention of 'science' as it's all actually quite easy to understand even for a simple layman like myself! So next year when the course dates are advertised (presumably on here and elsewhere) please sign yourself up for one or more of the courses I can assure you that you will gain great benefit from it. It's really like a mini-break in lovely Pembrokeshire!

I have actually checked with the college today (9/9/11) and there are still spaces left on the W.O.W. 'Seals' course which takes place at the college between 24th & 26th October.

If you are attending a course from Wales or outside and looking for good accommodation then I highly recommend the 'College Guest House' situated in St Thomas' Green in Haverfordwest only a 10 minute drive away and within easy walking distance from the Pembrokeshire college. I stayed there on each occasion as did a few other course participants. Take a peek at their website which is www.collegeguesthouse.com. The guest house is close to the leisure centre where there is free parking so you can have a swim or even a workout in the gym after a long hard day in the classroom and in the field!

Plentiful Porpoise single Bottle

One might be forgiven for thinking that cetacean watching would be a forlorn hope today with huge seas and dull conditions but Strumbles finest were out in force spotting great sherwaters and Sabines gulls whilst also spotting wall to wall porpoises estimated at 100 + (Rickardo Davies) Its the kind of numbers that used to be reasonably normal for Strumble but not so often now. A single Bottlenose was spotted off the Northern side of Dinas Island (Cym yr Eglws) by Steve Berry this morning, not bad given the weather! 

From Monday, Stevo's report...

Chris and I went to Strumble Head at 3pmWe saw 3 Harbour Porpoises but could be more in the ebbing tide race.The sea conditions were moderate to large waves force 5 westerly windsCheers Stevo
Adrian Rogers was there and reported that there were at least 15 so yep Stevo as you thought there were more, Adrian had also seen a Sunfish.

Wow cetacean course August 23rd-25th

Whilst volunteering at Seatrust I was lucky enough to go on a cetacean wildlife Observer Wales course which proved extremely useful in the recent Dolphinothon! It was very interactive, hands on and friendly and the main emphasis was on correct identification of cetaceans, but also the importance of the survey’s themselves and some background, very interesting biology aspects of cetaceans. Did you know there are 6 functions of blubber?!

As well as the classroom side of it, on each of the three days we did some practical surveying at Strumble head, Ramsey sound and then on a 2 hour boat trip from New Quay. Both porpoises and bottlenose dolphins were sighted (Identified using our newly acquired ID skills!) and recorded. I highly recommend this course to anyone interested in the welfare of cetaceans, wanting to expand their knowledge and have more confidence in identifying cetaceans. The picture below is the team at New Quay having just got off the boat and finished the course!

Text and Picture: Jessica Creak

Dolphin-Othon completed Sept 3rd (still recovering!)

The last day of the Dolphin-Othon started looking disasterous with winds andd rain forecasted. We gave the team (Crazy Gang) the option of cancelling but they were all up for it so we (Jess Barbara and the Walrus) decided to give it a go!

It started with a bang when just as the team (Shirley Matthews, Richard Campbell, Sean Mc Carthy, Angela Latimer Davies, Peter and Alison Lock ) got on the bridge, (late having been delayed by rain), seven Common Dolphins appeared just in front of the ferry in amongst a flurry of Gannets.

Then, just a little while later, Sean spied some Risso’s very close on the starboard side. So despite wind, rain and cold this bunch of full-on enthuisiasts got some of the best views of the week.

The rest of the crossing lacked in many more cetacean sightings, just a couple of Porpoises to end with off the Tusker. Very enthusiastic attention was paid to the vast numbers of birds in the Irish side. Skuas, Terns and Manxies were all ticked off the checklist.

After another delicious meal at the Harbour View Hotel (thanks guys) and a few Guiness’ later we embarked the ferry once again and had a very interesting journey whereby an excellent quantity of Guiness’ and glasses of wine were consumed to celebrate an excellent few days of high grade Cctacean watching!

Overall an extremely successful Dolphinothon with a total 296 cetacean sightings in just 18hours of effort – 63 porpoises, 158 Commons, 64 Risso’s, 3 bottlenoses and a few other unidentified cetacean sightings.

Thank you to all those that joined in the fun Dolphinators and Sea Trust Monitors and we look forward to

next year! Thanks especially to Stena Line Fishguard and Rosslare, Senior Master Callum Clare and all the officers, crew and shore staff who gave us their support and patience!Jess and the Walrus

Caemes Dolphins

From John O'Sullivan - Saturday 3 September am: An hour seawatch and trip around Caemes Head was very quiet apart from a pod of around 8 Bottlenose Dolphins just off shore for around half an hour. 5 Kept very close together with at least a couple of others dotted around the main group. A small number of porpoise were also dotted further out. One of the dolphins had a distinctive bi-coloured dorsal fin with the top edge a paler grey and seemingly eroded away/damaged.

Friday 2nd September

The weather forecast looked ominous as we left the house to head for Pembroke dock to embark on another wildcat experience, but as we set out on the water, the clouds parted and out came the sun. Today we (the Walrus and Jessica) were joined by Steve and Anthony Lucas, Steve Rosser, the Slocomb family, the Cripps ladies, Elfyn Pugh and our Peter Boyle. The winds were force 3 to 4 and so choppy water was going to make it difficult to catch any cetacean sightings – especially those fin whales again, but moral was high and everyone scoured the ocean for the odd fin or splash. Everyone was delighted when we ran into 3 separate pods of common dolphins – showing off jumping and riding the bow wave; we were surrounded at all angles. After a while we headed for Grassholm to see what was left of the gannet colony. We were greeted with many still very young birds – all fluffed up (see pictures), and seals sunbathing on the rocks below. A wonderful sight but not sure about the smell! We finished the trip and birthed just as the good weather window began to close. Overall a very successful trip and; after only seeing the cetaceans from miles away and high up on the ferry bridge, it was incredible being able to almost reach out and touch them! My first real up-close and personal trip with the dolphins.

Photographs: Jessica Creak

Lots going on!

Crikey so much going on , really finding it difficult to keep up!
firstly and belelatedly and with apologies ...
Elizabeth Walters ...Aug 30 (3 days ago)
Hi - I'm sure your more than familiar with spotting dolphin and porpoises from st David's head but we were amazed! Two porpoises on the far side away from whitesands beach. Just thought we'd let you know.
Sent from my iPhone...
then...
Thursday 1st September
Chris and I went to Strumble Head at 2:15pm.We saw 3- 4 Harbour Porpoises in the ebbing tide race.Sea conditions was calm and hardly a ripple Cheers Stevo...

Anyhow despite a far from encouraging forecast I decided we would risk it and not cancel todays Wildcat trip. And so we were lucky again with far less wind than forecast with  plenty of sunshine and Dolphins. We had several encounters and lots of sea birds culminating in a 100+ feeding frenzy, more from Jessica later...

Aberystwyth & Porthmadog Bottlenose Dolphins

A sunny and generally flat calm couple of days working our way up through Cardigan Bay from Newport Pembs to Porthmadog working rivers, estuaries and outer sites (middle of Bay) on the way (water sampling). Day one revealed no cetaceans and relatively little else of note......but today made up for it. Heading out of Aberystywyth Marina (immediately outside the harbour wall) we met a lone young Bottlenose who was idly milling about (0830hrs BST). We sat at rest (engines off) and he briefly headed over to check us out before going on with his bimble.....(last image above)

At sea there were large rafts of Razorbills in their winter plumage as well as Shearwaters.....As we headed in from our final site 25Kms outside Porthmadog (at around 5kms out) we were met by a feeding frenzie of 6 Bottlenose (with calf) with one breaching clear.....all joined by lots of Shearwaters and several Gannets. We then headed in further and picked up another pod of six animals also feeding......all go in Porthmadog!

Dolphin-Othon,Wednesday 31st August

Images: &Words: Jessica Creak

Wednesday morning brought with it, as well as a warm but glaring sun, a large number of Risso’s dolphins. In just a 13 minute time window, 32 Risso’s showed us their fins. This wasn’t the only sighting of the morning however, Commons and porpoises were also to be seen, earmarked by feeding gannets near both the Irish and Welsh coast.

We had a large crowd of cetacean spotters joining us in the afternoon; including the Hambley’s and the Wiseman’s along with Stevo and Tony Lucas. The trip swiftly became very exciting with a sighting of a pod of over 100 common dolphins.

Spotted by the Walrus a few miles out we waited patiently for them to come into view, and with Sarah and Susan (12 and 14) mastering the telescopes everyone was very happy to catch the active pod breaching all over the place. Our friends the Risso’s also popped up again as we entered the infamous “Risso’s Triangle” so overall another very successful trip! Bring on Friday.